Might leave this up as a Project thread to see how i get one but atm the money is the only thing stopping me!

Well i got SICK of leaving the polo in the garage and not knowing what I'm going to do with it! So i went out today to the garage and started to strip the front off now previously me and arran(acg) tried but we had no luck as all the screws where fucked/rusted so i had to use brute force i wasnt to worried about it as its only the bumper and iv already got a new one so i began getting the bumper off.

Heres how it looked as it was sitting in the garage as you can see its dented straight in the middle which i thought was strange after kissing Charlie's arse back at Stoner Park (sorry mate)

Now due to the rusted bloody bolts and what have you i had to rip the front Bumper off now i had to use some cutting tools and a screw driver to break the plastic bit holding the bolts on, heres a couple of shots withe bumper hanging off

Now once the bumpers off you can see (if I'm correct) the front Slam Panel ? where i was expecting to see loads n loads of rust around here but the only rust is the slam panel, now this is why i dont want to BREAK the car for spairs its pratically Rust free

Now was the hard bit (as i dont have much tools) is to get the Front Slam Panel off to my surprise i found the right tools and manage to start getting the bolts off which where holding it in place there where a couple of dodgy one but with a little persistance i manage to get them all off!

Now with the Front Slam Panel off i took a close look to my Radiator and surrounding area's again to my delight NO DAMAGE! well maybe a slight crack in the platic holding the Radiator but as you can see from these next Pictures it wasnt half bad as i imagined!

Thats pretty much it for now as its just after xmas and i need to save up money to get gearbox sorted out so hopefully i should be back on the road for Feb shall we say, its nice to do work yourself and i enjoyed this just a shame i dont have everything to do it my self so its going to have to go to a Garage to get it done professionaly!

thanks all for looking, now what are your comments/suggestions should i get it fixed new gearbox etc ???? Dean.!

Edited 28 March, 201016 yr by LOGiCALX

I would personally cut my loses if it was my car because a new or reconditioned gearbox will be near enough £500 then labour will bring your bill up to around £800 and who's to say that the reconditioned box won't give up aswell.

You should break the car or sell it as spares/repair and get yourself another Polo cheap which has been looked after

Easy to say but personally I would rather keep MY OWN car than buy SOMEONE ELSES. Its an emotional thing.

Why send somthing to the scrappers for what is essentially sod all? Its a total waste of the planets resources if you ask me.

True i would like to keep the car id love to fix it and get it done and stand there and go yup i did it but also from money side of things isit worth it

edit 1400 post woo

Edited 26 December, 200817 yr by LOGiCALX

Ffs you've only got a dented bumper,and a gearbox is fifty quid from a breakers if you can be arsed to go and pull one out yourself.

If the one in the breakers is the same colour,get some tools,pull the front off and you'll have it sorted with a couple of days effort.

6n's are everywhere,wont take long to find one. It'll cost 150 quid max for everything. Get a Haynes manual and take your time.

^^^ mikey, get real man.

Twiced^^ *edit* was supposed to go after mikey

Where abouts are you?

If youre not confident enough to do as Mikey says on your billy, I'm sure there will be someone close by who will lend a hand for beer tokens

Edited 26 December, 200817 yr by walshc

i dont wanna piss on your bonfire Logi but the front panel on 6n's is fibreglass so wont rust

The rusty part there is the bumper backing bar (every day is a school day )

and as Mikey says, get to a breakers! We can bring repair bills down by a huge amount and if you go to a decent one (where you based and ill see who i know) then you should get a warranty with a 2nd hand box. We dismantle the parts for you and you just collect them. we normally charge about £175 for 6n boxes.

same goes for panels. look hard enough and you will see plenty on 6n's for breaking (some even privately on here for some real bargains!)

hope this helps man

Edited 26 December, 200817 yr by VeeDubGeezer

Damn! thats quite dear for a 2nd hand box, I've had 2 boxes for a 6n in the last 18months, one was 50 and the other 65

it might be worth you to get another crashbar (the really bent rusty black bit behind your front bumper) and see if it will bolt to the chassis legs and make sure you haven't pulled the legs in with it being sso bent

ahh cool i wasnt sure what it was called, the main prob is i dont have all the tools to do things my self

Location, I'm in Croydon,London

now i know the name of it I'm sure i can go across the road and get a "bumper backing bar" cheers veedub which wouldnt be difficult, this is one of the things i hate everyone seem to have contacts in the trade where as me i dont lol so i dont know the top gezza who would do a blinding job for not cheap but worth the price, thank you everyone for the comments!

Yeah, a new bumper iron will tell you how straight things are to a fair extent, just make a mental note (or take a pic) of how it was on the car it came off. Looking at that though, it's eminently DIYable. There's nothing like the satisfaction of a job well done on the cheap.

I would personally cut my loses if it was my car because a new or reconditioned gearbox will be near enough £500 then labour will bring your bill up to around £800 and who's to say that the reconditioned box won't give up aswell.

You should break the car or sell it as spares/repair and get yourself another Polo cheap which has been looked after

6N gearbox recons can be expensive, but it depends - if its off the road and you're having to save up a bit, then you can save a bit of cash. First time my 'box went pop, I got it checked into a gearbox place, £440 quid later the box had been reconned (pun intended) and refitted to the car (but they didn't change the clutch). 2 years later it goes pop again. SO: this time I sourced an alternative 'box, got that PROPERLY rebuilt by a gearbox specialist I trusted, filled with fully synth gearbox oil, then handed to a garage who removed my old 'box, and fitted the new one with a brand new clutch, all for about £360. Only problem was, the car was off the road for about a month,

If you've got time, sometimes a bit of work can save a bit of cash.

Edited 27 December, 200817 yr by 6Newan

well mines off the road since my insureance finished back in sept so i dont mind it being off the road a little while longer i just gota search for people who rebuilt gearboxs in croydon...

fuck it can get a differnt 6n with a non fucked front for the price of a good gearbox rebuild

My current box still feels good as new. No 5th gear breakage as of yet (probably due to me adjusting the play out of the engagement positions when i got it),no notchiness,no whine,all good. 75 quid,it cost me,but i had to remove it myself. Plus new gear oil,at 15 quid for a 4.5 litre can.

Its always a gamble with used ones though,unless you're paying double for a warranty,but you've still gotta fit the replacement in the event of a claim.

And a 6n needs a 6n box,because only those had the casting for the soup-ladel linkage.

Before removing a box from a scrap car,look for any signs of an oil leak,casing damage etc. And find out why the car is in there - crash damage is good (as long as its not damaged the box),you dont want a broken gearbox to be the reason its in the breakers!

id keep the car.. with a bit of effort and scouting the scrappys you can get all you need for it.

Get yourself to halfords, their tools are half price. i picked up a 180 peice socket and spanner set, normally £200, for £99, with lifetime warranty. It is a lot to pay out, but totally worth it in the long run.

deano il have a check with some of my lads in the workshop and see what they will chrarge for fitting a gearbox shouldnt be loads but id change the cluctch to

yeah dean, i say keep it and fix it, just dont go the expensive route.

I'm sure u can find the parts cheap at a scrappy and get some help somewhere (u know aaron is a mechanic right?)

i bet it'll feel much better fixing you are little beast then just getting a new one.

it would yes indeed ye both arran/ons are be nice to get it all fixed done up then sell it eventually or when i find the car i like but I'm gona stay with it for at least 2 yrs to get my no-claims back i lost :(

oh on that note arran if it was at al possible to get it done at the garage i need the car to be on TOW Truck as its SORN.

Edited 29 December, 200817 yr by LOGiCALX

cant be that hard to fit a clutch and box to a 6n if you have all the time in the world to do it

u know not everyone is a mechanic you know and has everything in there garage with the know how to do it..... ie someone like me so stop banging on about how easy everything is.

by the looks of them photos all you need is a new impact bar, they unbolt using a socket set, cheap from a breakers too, new front bumper, headlights and indicators? you haven't damaged the radiator by the looks of things?

you could sort that for less than 150 quid, wouldnt be too hard to find a dragon green 6n in a scrappy either

no point scrapping that polo at the end of the day

cant really suggest much about gearboxes, just get a few quotes

the main problem was either spend 600ish on fixing it up or buying a new polo n start fresh but i do love my car :( :p

Go for it mate. There's very few professional mechanics on here, most of us learnt what we did because we'd got broken cars and no money :)